Dynamics and post-collision interaction effects in two electron decay from the Xenon 4d hole

Two Auger electrons, one very slow, one fast, have been detected in coincidence following near threshold 4d photoionization of the Xe atom. The distribution in the energy the two electrons share has been measured for the first time revealing the presence of post-collision interaction effects that provide unique information on the decay dynamics of the 4d hole. Analysis of the distorted line shapes indicates that the dominant process is decay of Xe+(4d(-1)) to Xe3+ through cascade emission of a zero kinetic energy Auger electron followed by a fast Auger electron. The widths of the intermediate Xe2+* states are estimated to be about 60 meV.     

Photoionization of highly charged ions using an ECR ion source and undulator radiation

Photoionization of Xe4+ to Xe7+ ions was studied by combining an electron cyclotron resonance ion source with synchrotron radiation. Multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations were performed to interpret the data. Many autoionization lines were measured and identified, resulting from excitation of a 4d electron into nf and np orbitals followed by Auger decay of the excited states. Continuum photoionization is negligible for the higher members of the isonuclear series.     

Coherence of nondegenerate states studied by auger electron-photoelectron coincidence experiments in Kr

The indirect double photoionization of Kr via the Kr+(3d(-1)(3/2,5/2)) states to the Kr2+(4s4p(5) (1)P(o)) final state has been studied by Auger electron-photoelectron angular resolved coincidence experiments. By tuning the incident photon energy, we succeeded in observing the coherence in the photoionization of two nondegenerate spin-orbit states. The observations have been described quantitatively by a model which accounts for the two pathways to the final state as well as for the indistinguishability of the two ejected electrons.     

Xenon 5p–4d cascade emission upon 3d-photoionization

We investigated the photon-emission spectrum of Xe atoms upon photoionization of the Xe 3d-subshell. The 5p-4d spectrum is emitted in the process of the cascading decay of the 3d-vacancy and has a complex multi-component structure reflecting a great number of transitions from various ionic configurations produced during the cascade development. The spectrum is assigned by the direct construction of the cascade de-excitation tree. 21 different transitions between configurations of multiply charged Xe ions (+2 to +6) are found to be contributing to the spectrum. The 5p-4d partial fluorescence yield is found to be six times greater for the 3d-ionization than for the 4d-ionization. The effect of the multiplet splitting in the initial and final states of the emitting transitions is studied.     

Enhancement of double auger decay probability in xenon clusters irradiated with a soft-x-ray laser pulse

The interaction of large Xe clusters with a soft x-ray laser pulse having a wavelength of 13.9 nm and an intensity of up to 2x10(10) W/cm2 was investigated using a time-of-flight ion mass spectrometer. The corresponding laser photon energy was sufficiently high to photoionize Xe 4d innershell electrons. It was found that Xe3+ ions (which result from double Auger decay of 4d vacancies) became the dominant final ionic product with increasing cluster size and x-ray intensity. This is in contrast to the results of synchrotron radiation experiments involving free Xe atoms, in which Xe2+ is the dominant resultant ion species. Possible mechanisms responsible for the enhancement of the double Auger transition probability in x-ray laser and cluster interaction are discussed.     

Unveiling residual molecular binding in triply charged hydrogen bromide

We present an experimental and theoretical study of triply charged hydrogen bromide ions formed by photoionization of the inner 3d shell of Br. The experimental results, obtained by detecting the 3d photoelectron in coincidence with the two subsequent Auger electrons, are analyzed using calculated potential energy curves of HBr3+. The competition between the short-range chemical binding potential and the Coulomb repulsion in the dissociative process is shown. Two different mechanisms are observed for double Auger decay: one, a direct process with simultaneous ejection of two Auger electrons to final HBr3+ ionic states and the other, a cascade process involving double Auger decay characterized by the autoionization of Br*+ ion subsequent to the HBr2+ fragmentation.     

Circular polarization of ion fluorescence completing the analysis of resonant Xe* 4d(-1)(5/2)6p Auger decay

The relative contributions of the partial electron waves emitted in the Auger decay of the Xe* 4d(-1)(5/2)6p(J(*)=1) resonance have been determined by fluorescence polarimetry after excitation with circularly polarized synchrotron radiation. The analysis of circularly polarized fluorescence of the photoion leads to an independent determination of the orientation parameters for all states of the Xe II 5p(4)6p multiplet. The present study provides, in combination with data on the angular distribution and spin polarization of the Auger electrons, complete quantum mechanical information on the resonant Auger decay, i.e., branching ratios and relative phases of the Auger decay amplitudes.     

Correlation between double and nonresonant single ionization

We performed simultaneous measurements of electrons and ions produced in Xe photoionization driven by an 800-nm, 100-fs laser pulse. The obtained energy and angular resolved electron spectra allow the identification of the electronic states populated during the ionization. Xe2+ ions appear at the same laser intensity as electrons emerging from a nonresonant 9-photon ionization process of Xe. Similar to optical tunneling ionization, the nonresonant ionization delivers low-energy electrons needed for the formation of Xe2+ by a backscattering process.     

Xe原子离子4d→f跃迁光电离截面延迟峰的研究

根据独立电子近似,本文研究了Xe原子离子4d→f跃迁光电离截面延迟峰。阐明了光电离截面延迟峰与对应末态光电子与原子离子实散射增强的关系,以及第二延迟峰与初、末通道量子数亏损差的关系。结果表明:(1)随着电离度的增加,光电离截面延迟峰向低能方向移动,最终消失而呈类氢结构;(2)对Xe离子,初、末通道量子数亏损差的绝对值越小,Cooper极小点的能量越低。 关键词：     

Decay channel dependence of the photoelectron angular distributions in core-level ionization of Ne dimers

For K-shell photoionization of neon dimers, we report Ne 1s photoelectron angular distributions for Ne2++Ne+ and Ne++Ne+ channels exhibiting quite different patterns. Noninversion-symmetric patterns of the former obtained by the fast interatomic Coulombic decay of Auger final states show direct evidence of core-hole localization. Dipolar patterns of the latter obtained by the slow radiative decay of the other Auger final states clearly show that the radiative process is slow enough to allow dicationic dimers to rotate many times before fragmentation.     

Multiple Auger Decay Following Xe+(4p3−1/2)Ionization

The Auger decay for the many-electron Xe+(4p3^?1/2)state is studied in detail,using multistep approaches.It is found that the single Auger decay channels are primarily Coster–Kronig processes,which is in accord with other theoretical and experimental results.The double and triple Auger decays result primarily from cascade processes,i.e.,the sequential two-step and three-step Auger decay,and as such,the contributions from direct processes can be neglected.Level-to-level rates for single,double,and triple decays are obtained,based on which comprehensive Auger electron spectra and ion yields are obtained.Our decay paths and Auger electron spectra are in agreement with the experimental analysis[Hikosaka et al.,Phys.Rev.A 76(2007)032708],and our ion yield ratios(Xe²⁺:Xe³⁺:Xe⁴⁺=4.6:87.0:8.4)are also in line with their values(5.0:86.0:9.0).However,with respect to the ion yield ratios,a discrepancy still remains among the experimental and theoretical results.Taking into account the complexity of Xe’s electronic structure,further,more detailed experiments are still required.     

Complete two-electron spectra in double photoionization: the rare gases Ar,Kr, and Xe

A new spectroscopic technique, giving complete two-dimensional e(-)-e(-) coincidence spectra in single photon double photoionization, is presented. The technique resolves the states of doubly charged ions and provides spectra of the individual electrons emitted in formation of each final dication state. Complete spectra for double photoionization of Xe, Kr, and Ar at photon energies up to 51 eV have been recorded. Overall and surprisingly, the np(4) 3P, 1D, and 1S states are populated according to their statistical weights. When the evident autoionization is excluded, the supposedly favored 3P states are in fact disfavored. Detailed information on the autoionization processes is also made available.     

Photoionization cross section of Xe+ ion in the pure 5p5 2P3/2 ground level

Coupling an ion trap with synchrotron radiation is shown here to be a powerful approach to measure photoionization cross sections on ionic species relaxed in their ground state. The photoionization efficiency curve of Xe+ ions stored in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance ion trap was recorded at ELETTRA in the 20-23 eV photon energy range. Absolute cross sections were derived by comparison of the photoionization yield of Xe+ with measurements from the ASTRID merged-beam experiment. Multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations were performed for the interpretation of these new data.     

Breakdown of the two-step model in K-shell photoemission and subsequent decay probed by the molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions of CO2

We report results of measurements and of Hartree-Fock level calculations of molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPADs) for C 1s photoemission from CO2. The agreement between the measured and calculated MFPADs is on average reasonable. The measured MFPADs display a weak but definite asymmetry with respect to the O+ and CO+ fragment ions at certain energies, providing evidence for an overlap of gerade and ungerade final ionic states giving rise to a partial breakdown of the two-step model of core-level photoionization and its subsequent Auger decay.     

Separating the vibrationally resolved Auger decay channels for a CO core hole state

The K-VV Auger spectrum of carbon monoxide (CO) excited by C 1s photoionization has been investigated with a novel electron-electron coincidence setup. The energy resolution is sufficiently high to resolve the vibrational energy levels of the core-ionized intermediate state and of most dicationic final states in the two-dimensional electron energy map. We demonstrate how the influence of vibrational states on a molecular Auger spectrum can be accessed experimentally without the constraint of averaging over all intermediate state energies.     

Sudden interchannel interaction in the Tl 6p ionization above the 5d threshold

The linear magnetic dichroism in the angular distribution of Tl 5d and 6p photoelectrons and their dynamical spin polarization have been measured between hnu = 30 and 50 eV. In contrast to the Xe 5p photoionization at the 4d threshold, our results show that above the Tl 5d threshold strong interchannel coupling effects induce a sudden increase in the asymptotic phase difference of the s and d waves for the Tl 6p ionization. This shows that the valence excitation is different for resonant (Xe 4d) and nonresonant (Tl 5d) excitation from subvalence shells.     

Raman regime energy dependence of alignment and orientation of KrII states populated by resonant Auger effect

The energy dependencies of alignment parameters A20 for KrII 4p(4)5p states after the Auger decay of the KrI 3d(9)np resonances were investigated theoretically and experimentally for the first time in the Raman regime with the bandwidth of the exciting radiation (deltaE(FWHM)=20 meV) smaller than the natural width of the resonances (Gamma approximately 80 meV). The observed energy dependence is due to the in-terference between the different resonance channels and the direct photoionization channel. A strong energy dependence for both the orientation parameter O10 and the photoelectron angular distribution parameter beta(el) is also predicted.     

Multielectron spectroscopy: the xenon 4d hole double auger decay

A magnetic bottle spectrometer of the type recently developed by Eland et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 053003 (2003).] has been implemented for use with synchrotron radiation, allowing multidimensional electron spectroscopy. Its application to the Xe 4d double Auger decay reveals all the energy pathways involved. The dominant path is a cascade process with a rapid (6 fs) ejection of a first Auger electron followed by the slower (>23 fs) emission of a second Auger electron. Weaker processes implying 3 electron processes are also revealed, namely, direct double Auger and associated Rydberg series.     

Wave function of the system of interacting continua of atomic states

In the class of Cauchy-Lorentz weight functions, the solution is obtained for the stationary many-particle Schrödinger equation for the nonrelativistic wave function of the system of interacting continua of atomic states, namely, for the state of direct photoionization of a deep vacancy of a free atom and the state of Auger decay of a deep vacancy with two (photo-and Auger) electrons of the continuum.